Project Spotlight: Waterville Drainage

The City of Waterville, a town of approximately 680 people located in Marshall County, was awarded Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to make drainage improvements throughout the city. Although drainage systems are often overlooked by residents and visitors to a community, problems occur when these systems fail.

The recent drainage improvement project in the City of Waterville included this intersection near the historic Waterville Opera House.

The 2017 award of $199,788 came from the Kansas Department of Commerce Small Cities CDBG Program in the Community Facilities category. The city provided an equal amount in matching funds through City cash. NCRPC Assistant Director Emily Benedick administered the project.

“Utilizing the CDBG funding, as well as local City cash, Waterville made noticeable improvements to their city’s drainage system throughout town,” Benedick said.

The project consisted of replacing 3,420 linear feet of concrete curb and gutter, installing or replacing 10 inlets, installing 2 manholes, installing a flume grate, 18 linear feet of concrete flume and 10 linear feet of trench drain, and installing 413 linear feet of storm sewer. Also included was the installation of 21 ADA concrete curb ramps and 160 square yards of concrete sidewalk. Additional concrete work included replacement of 215 square yards of driveways connected to the curb & gutter and 1,272 square yards of concrete patching to transition between the new curb and the existing street.

Installing or replacing 10 storm inlets were one part of Waterville’s drainage project.

In the planning process, the city’s governing body and staff worked to review areas of need and prioritize those based on their location and impact to citizens and city maintenance programs. Completion of this project addressed the most problematic areas throughout the city’s drainage system.

“The most noticeable change by far is cosmetically speaking,” Waterville Mayor Josh Stoudt said. “The curbs and guttering look great. I would definitely recommend this program and hope to utilize it again in the future for Waterville.”

There are many great things happening in North Central Kansas. The Project Spotlight series features projects around the region to share ways communities have solved challenges. To view more Project Spotlights, visit http://www.ncrpc.org/tag/project-spotlight/.